Thursday, June 26, 2008

Does anyone else listen to WTAM 1100 in the early morning? Apparently a Cuyahoga County school teacher was on with Bill Wills this morning and made an idiot of herself, whining about how little she got paid and talking politics when it was not supposed to be the topic. Guess who she's voting for. I'm glad I homeschool, yet again. I half-slept through her time on air and only started waking up when callers started calling in complaining how stupid she came off.

During the torrential downpour tonight, there was a young male employee at the Outback restaurant we had dinner at, escorting patrons to their cars under an umbrella. Wasn't that nice?

I sewed up a shirt today for the Scientist out of the camo fabric I bought, and started on a pair of shorts for Wildchild. I'm getting back into sewing, but also getting back into my familiar feeling of being overwhelmed with all the projects I need/want to do. Just have to take it my usual two-three projects at a time, lol.

Speaking of which, I also have two knitting projects going, a garter ridge scarf and a dishcloth. Is that typical for knitters, or just knitters with ADD? :) And do you have a yarn stash? If you do, how do you keep track of which yarn is what? I'm seeing the same patterns appear in my knitting career as are already apparent in my sewing. Not surprising, I suppose.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The rules:1. Post the rules at the beginning.2. Answer the questions only about yourself.3. At the end of the post, tag five people and post their names, then go to their blogs and leave them a comment so they know they’ve been tagged. Ask them to read the sender's blog.4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What Were You Doing Five Years Ago?In June 2003, we were still recovering as a family from my husband being out of work for eight months in 2002. Or at least, out of a job in computers, which paid much better than waiting tables. I don't remember much of anything else. We hadn't started homeschooling our daughters, although Wildchild was only four, anyway. Not much about me, but I wasn't doing much besides housekeeping and maybe sewing at this time.

What Are Five Things on Your To-Do List for Today?1. Dishes, dishes, dishes2. Embroidering a dish towel I've been working on (and putting off) forever, for Lutheran Hen for the blog contest I had up here ages ago.3. Laundry, laundry, laundry4. Walking. I've gotten out of the habit of exercising since it got so hot; I have to get back to it. I'd love to lose some weight, but it probably won't come off without exercise.5. Knitting: starting on a dish cloth pattern.

What Are Five Things You Would Do If You Were a Billionaire?1. Buy a nice house in the country, but not too far out.2. Buy the Scientist a horse. Maybe build a stable on our land.3. Buy a summer place on Lake Erie, preferably on the long strip of land by Cedar Point.4. Go to Germany, to visit family and friends. Plus it would be a great way for the girls to pick up German.5. Go to Italy. Check out the major cities and the little valley where my husband's people come from. I bet the Scientist could probably read Italian some after a couple of years of Latin, and I noticed the same thing after seven years of Spanish.

What Are Five of Your Bad Habits?1. Losing things, especially in the sewing room. By that, I mean not putting things where they belong and then having to look for them when they get buried by other stuff.2. Procrastination. Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.3. Not eating properly.4. Thinking poorly about myself. Putting myself down.5. Not establishing boundaries, mainly with family.

What Are Five Places Where You Have Lived?1. Bay Village, Ohio2. Willoughby, Ohio3. Dublin, Ohio4. Grove City, Ohio5. Sheffield Village, OhioYes, I've lived all my life in Ohio. It has its pros and cons, like anything else.

What Are Five Jobs You've Had?1. Secretarial assistant in The President's and Dean's Office for almost four years when I was in college.2. At a clothing store when I was home from college.3. As a Department Manager at a department store.4. Computer programmer for the Department of Defense. Used a dinosaur language, COBOL.5. Homeschool teacher.

Since a lot of bloggers I know don't like memes, and since something similar is already making the rounds among other blogs I read, I'm going to break The Rules and not tag anybody. If you want to play along, feel free.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Scientist needed new riding boots; she has a lesson tomorrow morning and can't ride without boots. So the girls and I jumped into the car to head about 45 minutes south where the tack store is. Fortunately, we hadn't gotten as far as the next exit on the freeway when I looked down at the Scientist's feet and realized she needed to be wearing socks to try on boots. We got off at the next exit, and stopped at McDonald's to grab a quick lunch, since the Scientist won a $15 MickeyD's gift card at a party. The girls went in themselves; Wildchild didn't think to order her hamburger plain and the Scientist accidentally bought unneeded extra fries.

So home we go. The Scientist found socks, even though one had a hole, and we headed out again. Alas, the girls were talking and bickering in the car and I just switched into auto-pilot mode and went right past the exit we were supposed to get off at. Oops. So, turn around and head back, and *finally* we made it to the tack store. Which went well, except we had no real ideas about the kind of boot to get for the Scientist. We ended up with low boots, since the Scientist rides in jeans, not breeches, and lace-up boots, since a zipper broke on the Scientist's last pair. At least the ride home was uneventful, except for more talking and bickering by the girls. They're gone now, checking on neighbors' pets that they're pet-sitting, so I have quiet at last!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Today, I checked out a lovely (and large) quilting and yarn store, and a little yarn store, right across a parking lot from each other and practically right in my own backyard. Never knew they were there before! I've only taken up knitting this year, though, and although I've been sewing for years, I've only done a very little bit of quilting. I've developed an interest in doing more quilting recently. I have the fabric and pillow form I need to make a log cabin pillow, and I have fabric to start on quilts for my daughters' beds. I think for the daughters' quilts I will just make simple, large squares, so the prints on the fabric don't get lost in little pieces. I keep wanting to take pictures of the fabric. If someone tells me they want to see it, it might motivate me. :)

In addition to the sewing I *want* to do, the girls and I really need some summer clothes, and I do most of our clothes sewing around here, too. It may not be cheaper than Wal-Mart or Target, but I think the clothes wear longer, and it's not that much more than the stuff at Target, if you get good deals on fabric. Plus, I reuse a lot of my patterns. Of course, I have managed to collect a large number of patterns. :)

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

I've finally got a picture of a six-gore skirt I made awhile ago that I wanted to put up a picture of. The fabric was in my stash so long (eek!) that I forget exactly what it's made of, but it has a nice linen-y texture to it. It looks similar to some fabric Kate posted a while back.I made it using Stretch-and-Sew 481. I hadn't used the pattern before, despite it's easy-to-makeness, but it made up into a great skirt.I want to make another skirt in white using some fabric I just bought in Amish country, but who knows when I'll get to it. I'll be busy with projects for a while.

For example, I bought this camo knit fabric in pink and browns for the Scientist, who had expressed a wish for a shirt in such fabric. I got it at Zinck's in Berlin, which, despite what the link says, is now located in one giant outlet store. Mr. EG took a few pics for me, but I need to get them on my computer. Let me just say that it's a giant warehouse of a place, with row upon row of all kinds of fabric.Lastly, I did not make these potholders, but I bought them in Amish country because I liked them so much. My kitchen is decorated (a little) with pansies, and I hadn't any Christmas kitchen linens before I bought these two potholders.I'm frustrated, because Photobucket crashes my browser every time I try to upload video of Wildchild's dance recital, and when I tried to email *one* video to a friend, the software told me it was too big. I don't quite understand, since it's only one minute long. Maybe there's something I can do, but in the meantime let me just say it went well and Wildchild had a great time.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Here are a couple of views of Amish country from the room at our hotel.I tried to upload video from Wildchild's dance rehearsal to Photobucket but it kept crashing my browser, so it is not to be for now. Tomorrow is the big recital!

Friday, June 13, 2008

After two very full days, and a drive through heavy rain, we are home again, and glad to be here. Husband and I had a very good time out in the country. I loved shopping for fabric and yarn, and I'll take some pictures of my "loot" to share over the next couple of days.

Our daughters had a good time with their aunt and uncle, and their aunt took them to a few museums that I can add to their homeschool list. :)

I'm tired, but very happy after the good time we had. I think Husband and I really needed the time away, and it was nice to make some more memories together.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Mr. Evil Genius and I have been busy packing up boxes and printing out shipping labels and making runs to the post office. Which fortunately is very close to our house. It's a good thing I accepted international bidders, as many of my eBay bidders are from other countries: Italy, Sweden, England, Norway and as far away as New South Wales, Australia. My items mailed "in country" also seemed to be going about as far away from Ohio as possible: Texas, Florida and California.

Mr. Evil Genius and I are also preparing for a little trip together to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. We leave on Wednesday and will be back late on Friday, and the girls will be staying with my sister-in-law and her husband. I'm trying to get some more clothes sewn up for the girls and I. I've finally managed to get back seriously into my sewing room, after my bad time in the winter. Right now, I'm working on a swim suit for Wildchild. I hate sewing swim suits, as I have a hard time sewing the elastic so the tension is even all the way around, and my machine has difficulty at times getting over the seam bumps and the elastic bumps where the elastic was sewed together. I want to take a picture or two of my latest creations, but the camera lens needs cleaned, and we can't find any "proper" cleaning cloths here at home that won't scratch the lens. Oh, the little things that get in our way sometimes.

I'm hoping the camera will be ready by the time Mr. Evil Genius and I leave; we're going to Amish country, by the way. Ohio has a large population of Amish, and I love the countryside and the shopping. I'm very much looking forward to the trip.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Wildchild had dance class in costume this afternoon for her dance recital on June 15. Not sure what her dance instructor was thinking when she planned it for Father's Day. Anyway, Wildchild will be dancing twice, once for her ballet class and once for her jazz class.

About Me

I've been happily married for over twenty years. I have two teenage daughters who bring joy and laughter to my life. We also have two black cats who wandered into our family.
I like to knit and I sew, mainly clothes for my family. I also sew clothes for my dolls, some modern and some vintage style. I'm an amateur fashion historian, and it's easier to sew a Victorian dress for a doll than it is for me!
I'm BarbEvilKnitter on Ravelry, if you are a fellow knitter or crocheter. I've also ventured onto Twitter as @BarbEvilGenius. I run two doll blogs and a personal blog where I talk about whatever moves me. Click my profile if you want to find one of my other endeavors.